The popularity of ball games such as baseball, softball, and the like, is well known; however, particularly with young children starting at roughly age 5, it is difficult to play these ball games because a pitcher and a catcher are required. At the above-mentioned age and even with some children as old as roughly 10 years of age, it is dangerous to have a catcher stand too close to a young batter swinging a bat because of the poor control which such batter has over the bat. Further, particularly in baseball, young pitchers do not have the ability or physical strength to consistently pitch a ball across home plate to assure that the game will progress at reasonable speed. In addition, with the increased number of arm injuries in recent years, such as so-called "Little League elbow," it is desirable to reduce the pitching stress on the arms of young children.
Therefore, a modified form of baseball, popularly referred to as "tee ball," has been introduced for young children and has had remarkable success. As the name suggests, the game is played with a ball supported on a tee and struck with a bat while the tee is placed on home plate of a regular ball diamond. The ball is usually supported at about waist height to enable the batter to make easy contact with the ball with a smooth, even swing.
With this arrangement the pitcher is not required to pitch the ball and in actual play is required to keep one foot on the pitching rubber until a batter hits the ball, whereupon he may move away from the rubber to field the ball or otherwise assist in defensive play. Similarly, the catcher is required to stand a considerable distance away from the tee on home plate (and a swinging bat) where he is less likely to be injured by the batter. Once the ball is hit, the catcher assumes the normal defensive role of a catcher.
Generally the basic rules which govern play in major league baseball, as played in the United States, apply to tee ball, with modifications such as mentioned above to enable use of a tee. In addition, for young boys the bases are usually 60 feet apart in the usual diamond pattern and the pitcher's rubber is 45 feet from home plate.
In most instances the infield positions are the same as played by major league baseball teams; however, the outfield positions may vary in number from the usual 3 to as many as 5, where it is desired to allow participation by more players. Also, to prevent a particular team from remaining at bat too long, limitations are usually placed as to the number of batters that may bat in a given inning and this number is usually the number of players on the team. Thus, with teams of eleven players each, once the eleventh player comes to bat and regardless of the number of outs prior to that time, after the ball is in play as the result of the eleventh batter's action, all action and scoring are stopped merely by playing the ball home and tagging home plate.
Tee ball games may vary in length to suit local situations; however, they are usually six innings in length, and a complete six inning game with the home team batting in the sixth may be completed usually within roughly one and one-half hours.
It will be appreciated that in order for tee ball to be successful it is necessary to have a tee that a young batter will not be afraid to hit with a regular baseball bat because it might sting his hands. In addition, it is desirable that the tee be such that it supports the ball at a height, in the strike zone, where it may be easily hit with a level swing.
It is of extreme importance that the tee be safe. Preferably, the tee should be constructed so that it may be easily knocked down and once knocked down it should be constructed so that it will not injure a young player sliding thereacross or falling thereon. Therefore, such tee should have a supporting base which provides support for the tee and a ball resting thereon during normal use; however, it should have a base and column which is easily collapsible or flattened. Further, the base and upstanding column of such tee should be free of rigid projections, particularly metallic projections which would cause wounds if a player were to fall thereon.
Numerous tees have been proposed heretofore and such tees include both homemade tees and those designed and manufactured for tee ball. Categorically, all of these previously proposed tees are unsafe for children and the manufactured tees are also too expensive. For example, one common tee is comprised of a plumber's helper having a rubber base and a wooden handle threadedly fastened thereon. A rubber hose is often attached concentrically around the wooden handle with a metal hose clamp of the automobile radiator type. However, with this type of tee the wooden column or handle portion is easily knocked out of the base. Further, such column usually breaks and splinters, producing pieces which could injure a player; and, obviously, the wooden portion of the handle within a rubber hose does not allow it to collapse. In addition, the metal hose clamps used with such a tee have numerous projections which are very dangerous.
Other tees in current use are made substantially of metal and include metal bases and metal column portions which may have a rubber hose section for supporting the ball. These tees are especially undesirable because a young batter will invariably hit the metal column, damage his bat, and often injure his hands. Also, most of these tees with metal columns have pins projecting therefrom which are used to adjust the height of the column and these pins are very dangerous.
Still other tees proposed heretofore provide a rigid home plate, having the usual configuration, fixed to the base of the metal column. These tees once knocked over (as they routinely are) are hazardous because they hold the sharp pointed edges of home plate so that a person may fall thereon and be seriously injured.